Pakistan Journal of Gender Studies 77 Socio-Economic And Psychological Perspectives Of Female Crimes Rana Saba Sultan Department of Sociology University of Karachi Irshad Bibi Department of Sociology Islamia College, Karachi Abstract Until a few decades ago, crime was considered to be a predominantly male phenomenon, but as women increasingly joined the mainstream of society, their share in crime increased considerably the world over. The family unit has been torn apart because of economic necessity, increasing awareness of women’s rights and the need to step out of home to reach the work place. In fact the growing rate of woman prisoners can be linked to social changes, especially in urbanization and new agents of social control such as urban police and moral reformers. The fewer job opportunities and lower wages for women resulted in economic marginalization and increased the need for women to resort to crimes such as prostitution, especially during wars, when men were not able to support their families. Prostitution was often, the most readily available way for women to support themselves and their children. ﺗﻠﺨيﺺ المقالہ Introduction Biological Perspective Cesare Lombroso (1835-1909) and his student Enrico Ferri were the leaders in the attempt to connect criminal behaviour with biological causes. Moreover, women were 78 Socio-Economic and Psychological Perspectives of Female Crimes described as less evolved than men, closer to primitive nature that would not allow degeneration into criminal propensity. Women exhibiting more masculine features would be less likely to be chosen as breading mates. When women did commit crime, those crimes were of a character that required little energy and forethought. Lombroso reasoned that women’s physical and intellectual abilities were inferior to those exhibited by men. Lombroso characterised short, dark haired women, women with moles and masculine features as good candidates for crime (Lombroso & Ferrero, 1900).1 In short, Lombroso and Ferrero defined distinctive sub species of women as “good” and “bad,” “natural” and “abnormal” and equated these with conformity and crime. In this they reflected nineteenth century attitudes to respectable and other women and added another footnote to the debate about ‘separate spheres’. But they discussed little about female criminality and talked more about themselves and their ideas about women. (Wolf Gang, 1972).2 The theories and writings of Ceaser Lombroso, who was the leading proponent of positive criminology, have influenced the course of thinking more deeply than those of any other criminologist (Mannheim, 1965).3 Another scholar Enrico Ferri (1856-1929) expressed interest in Lombroso’s ideas of basic biological causation of criminal behaviour, but he stressed the importance and inter- relation of social, economic, and political factors. In his text criminal sociology, where he expanded his thought on the whole problem of crime, and presented his original thesis on its causes. Ferri believed that crime is caused by the certain factors, he classified them as: Physical (race, climate, geographic location, seasonal effects, temperature, etc). Raffaele Garofalo (1852-1934) was a positivist who rejected the doctrine of free will. He believed that crime and criminal can only be understood when studied by using scientific methods, and that science deals with universals. He, therefore, developed a sociological definition of crime that was universal and would, as stated, “designate those acts which no civilised society can refuse to recognise as criminal and repress by punishment” (Vold & Bernard, 1986).4 Garofalo identifies four basic criminal classes. Even though they are distinct from one an other, they are related in the sense that each type is characterised by “a deficiency in the basic altruistic sentiments of pity and the probity” (Allen).5 Psychological Perspectives Psychological theories of crime associate criminality with particular types of personality. Some have suggested that in a minority of individuals, an immoral or psychopathic personality (withdrawn, emotionless and delighting in violence) develops. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) was the father of psychoanalysis. He was an important contributor to the theories of the development of personality. Freud linked criminality to an unconscious sense of guilt that the individual retains because of his childhood. Refering to Oedipus Complex or Electra Complex in the case of women, Freud says that a male child is attracted to and seeks affection from his mother, the female child from his father. Rana Saba Sultan, Irshad Bibi 79 During this oedipal stage of psychosexual development, as it is termed, the male child resolves his Oedipus complex by identifying with his father and sublimating his desires for his mother. By identifying with parental figures, the child internalises the standards and rules of his or her culture, and the super ego emerges (Freuds, 1933).6 Freud contributed his views about female criminality using psychiatric constructs. Freud believed that female deviance was rare. Anatomically inferior to men, women are described by Freud as culturally inferior which matches her lesser abilities. By nature and by plan, Freud claims, women are incapable of rational thought and, due to their inferiority complex are concerned with only marginal matters. Thus Freud’s deviant woman is one who has wrongly adopted the wrong sex role, contrary to nature’s intentions (Freuds, 1933).7 Pollak (1961) published his key work in the field of women and crime. “In the Criminality of Women,” Pollak blames female criminality on biological phases that undermine a woman’s natural inhibitions and influence criminal offending. Under this theory, menstruation awakens feelings of irritation and complaint about her subordinate status in society. Pregnancy leads to irritation, anxiety and emotional imbalance. Also a menopausal woman becomes frightened about her emotional security and her marital well-being. Unlike Lambroso and Freud, though, Pollak believed that female criminality was more common than publicly acknowledged. Women’s superb skills of deceit and concealment resulted in their deviant acts being largely undetected by others. Pollak explained that these skills were biologically driven with social reinforcement, as represented her sexual enjoyment due to the invisibility of her orgasm (Pollak, 1961)8 Pollak saw woman as automata (Smart, 1977).9 Abuse Theory There are still unexamined environmental factors, which may be contributing to the increase in crimes committed by women. Abuse is one such factor. Herman (1992) explains that the adult abused, as a child will have difficulty negotiating the demands of adult life-the personality formed in an environment of coercive control is not well adapted to adult life. The survivor is left with fundamental problems in basic trust, autonomy and initiative. She approaches the tasks of early childhood establishing independence and intimacy-burdened by the major impairments in self-care, in cognition and memory, in identity, and in capacity to form stable relationships. She is still a prisoner of her childhood. Given the limited capacity of the survivor of abuse to cope with the demands of adult life, it seems plausible that women who were abused as children would be unable to negotiate the environmental stresses that were previously associated with crime. (Herman, 1992).10 Studies of female offenders highlight the importance of relationships and the fact that criminal involvement often came through relationships with family members, other 80 Socio-Economic and Psychological Perspectives of Female Crimes significant people or friends (Cheseny Lind 1997, Owen and Bloom 1995, Owen, 1998), women offenders who cite drug abuse as self medication often discuss personal relationships as the cause of their pain (Pollock, 1998). This has significant implications for therapeutic interventions that deal with the impact that these relationships have on women’s current and future behaviour. Theory of Trauma An understanding of trauma is also essential. Trauma is not limited to suffering violence, but includes witnessing violence, as well as the trauma of stigmatisation because of poverty, racism, incarceration, or sexual orientation. The vast majority of female offenders have been physically and/or sexually abused both as children and adults. Thus, most female offenders are trauma survivors when they enter the system, and then they are at risk for retraumatization by the system. Incarceration can be traumatising in its self, and the racism and classism that characterise the criminal justice system can be further traumatising. Many women use drugs or alcohol in order to medicate the pain of trauma. Trauma skews a woman’s relational experience and hinders her psychological development (Herman, 1992).11 Psychiatrist J. Herman (1992) writes that trauma is a disease of a disconnection and that there are three stages in the process of healing from trauma: 1. Safety 2. Remembrance and mourning 3. Reconnection. “Survivors feel unsafe in their bodies. Their emotions and their thoughts are not in their control. They also feel unsafe in the company of other people” (Herman, 1992).12 It is also important to acknowledge that for some women and girls, their first experience of safety is in a correctional setting. Violence and abuse have been their experience at home and on the street. It is a harsh social reality when a female believes that she is safer in prison or jail (Herman, 1992).13